cbu www.​chris​buzelli.com

Intro­duc­tion

Chris Buzelli was born and raised out­side of Chicago and on the waters of Lake Michi­gan. He was influ­enced by his Grand­fa­ther Armondo Buzelli at young age, paint­ing side by side in his tele­vi­sion repair shop. After grad­u­at­ing from Rhode Island School of Design, Chris moved to New York City to start his career as an illus­tra­tor. His oil paint­ings have appeared in many pub­li­ca­tions includ­ing Rolling Stone, TIME, Play­boy, New York Times and LA Times. Chris has col­lab­o­rated on numer­ous projects for design firms and adver­tis­ing agen­cies. Some recent projects include a poster series for the Tropen Museum in Ams­ter­dam commissioned by Saatchi and Saatchi, a wine label for St. Supery, a Fun-​Wall card for Facebook commissioned by McCann Erick­son and an ad cam­paign for United Airlines/Olympics com­mis­sioned by Arc World­wide. Chris’ work has been rec­og­nized by Amer­i­can Illus­tra­tion, Soci­ety of Illus­tra­tors, SPD, Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Arts, Print and 3×3 mag­a­zine. He also shows his work in var­i­ous exhi­bi­tions and gal­leries through­out US. Chris lives in NYC with his wife, SooJin, and mini-​pinscher, Sota. 

Do you con­sider your­self to have a com­mer­cial style?

I think my work drifts into the com­mer­cial world and the fine-​art world. It’s great to live in a time when you can par­tic­i­pate in both worlds.

Do you feel regret when you sell an orig­i­nal paint­ing or is the pay­ment com­pen­sa­tion enough?

At first, I was so pre­cious about my work, I wouldn’t sell any­thing. Now, a bunch of old paint­ings are col­lect­ing dust in a box under my bed. Recently, I’ve been sell­ing almost every­thing in gal­leries, through my web site and at illoga​tor.com. I know when the price is right if I’m com­fort­able in part­ing with the orig­i­nal. How­ever, I do hold on to few of my favorites. 

How much has an agent helped you career?

I’ve had two agents in my career. The first was very cor­po­rate and I was doing a lot of col­lage paint­ings of busi­ness people flying on rocket ships with brief cases. This agent was a big help in chang­ing my career. After about 5 years of suc­cess­fully start­ing a career as a cor­po­rate edi­to­r­ial illus­tra­tor, I dras­ti­cally changed my focus, almost over night. I decided no more col­lage and just focused on draw­ing and paint­ing of sub­jects that I wanted to paint. My work with that rep slowly declined and I stuck with my new per­sonal direc­tion despite the rep’s con­stant doubt about my new focus. I’m now with Jen Vaughn Artist Rep. She’s really great! I get about 90% of my own work but she gets some really unique jobs. Some recent projects were an Ad/poster cam­paign for United Air­lines and the 2008 Olympics, a greet­ing card for Face­book, col­lab­o­rat­ing with Mark Murphy on an ad cam­paign for Serbin and series of billboards/bus wrap­pers for the Seat­tle Wood­land Zoo. Â 

Apart from art and illus­tra­tion what other things are you into?

Just the normal stuff. Walk­ing around NYC with my wife, SooJin and our mini-​pin, Min­nesota. Fish­ing on the bound­ary waters of Min­nesota. Vis­it­ing my family back in Chicago. Hang­ing out with my 4 sis­ters. Hiking in the Catskills and get­ting lost in the woods. Cook­ing, mainly grilling, for my friends. Ping Pong. Bas­ket­ball. Snowboarding. 

Who are your favourite artists/illustrators alive today?

There are so many great and diverse illus­tra­tors alive today. I can’t pos­si­bly name them all. Here are a few……

Red Nose Studio, Tim Hussey, Jason Holley, Marc Bur­ck­hardt, Thomas Woodruff, Mark Ryden, Jordin Isip, Eric Sand­berg, Jonathan Wiener, Fort Thun­der, Ronald Kur­ni­awan, James Jean, Yuko, Todd Schorr, Shep­ard Fairey, Dave Cooper, Jody Hewgill, Charles Glaub­itz and the whole group in the Pencil Fac­tory in Brook­lyn (Sam Weber, Christo­pher Silas Neal, Ted McGrath, Josh Cochran, Jil­lian Tamaki and  Grady McFerrin. 

Have you ever worked for your wife?

Of course. She was the one who kept me going in the begin­ning of my career when jobs were scarce. She is the Cre­ative Direc­tor of Asset Intl, a pub­lish­ing firm with a couple of beau­ti­ful mag­a­zines, PLANSPON­SOR and PLANAD­VISER. I think she has really pushed the bound­aries of edi­to­r­ial illustration. 

With a choice of any space or gallery in the world; which city and venues do you con­sider to be hotspots and which ones would you like to show at?

I just showed at the Robert Berman Gallery at the Berg­a­mont Sta­tion in Santa Monica, CA. It’s a per­fect place to see a wide range of gal­leries in a unique and com­fort­able set­ting. Also, one of my favorite gal­leries is Var­nish Fine Art in San Fran­cisco, a great space to hang out and grab a drink. One day I’d love to show at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in NYC.

Are you involved in any col­lab­o­ra­tive projects at the moment and is there anyone you would like to work with?

I just fin­ished work­ing with Saatchi & Saatchi in Ams­ter­dam on a series of posters for the Tropen Museum in Ams­ter­dam. It’s an amaz­ing expe­ri­ence to work for a museum. The museum acquired 5 new arti­facts and wanted an illus­tra­tion for each. They flew me out and the posters were every­where, on the high­way, in the sub­ways, bus-​stops and on huge ban­ners in front of the Museum. I felt so over­whelmed that a museum would want my work to rep­re­sent them. If you get a chance visit the Tropen. It resem­bles a giant Harry Potter Castle and is full of amaz­ing arti­facts from the early Dutch explor­ers. I’d love to work on more projects like this. I’ve always wanted to do an art book or some type of movie/animation pro­duc­tion work. 

Have you ever con­sid­ered branch­ing in motion graph­ics or animation?

I’ve col­lab­o­rated on a few ani­ma­tion projects, where my paint­ings were ani­mated. But noth­ing note­wor­thy yet. I hear my Koi paint­ing for United is ani­mated for the open­ing screen on their flights.

What’s next in the pipeline for Christo­pher Buzelli?

I just missed a job illus­trat­ing the 7 Won­ders of the World for a high-​end under­wear com­pany. Not sure what’s next. Recently, I couldn’t have dreamed up some the the incred­i­ble projects that I’ve been given. I hope the good times continue. 

Cheese or beans on toast?

Noth­ing better then a grilled cheese sandwich.

Harry Potter or Transformers?

My wife loves the Harry Potter books. I just don’t get it. Too many descrip­tive names and places. 
I wish I kept my child-​hood col­lec­tion of Transformers. 

Rolling Stone or Playboy?

I’ve worked for both, so I have to be care­ful on this one. I really only look at both for their illus­tra­tions. Really!

You can see more of Chris Buzelli’s work at
www.​chris​buzelli.com

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Cats: Animation, Editor's Choice, LCS Interviews
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